


The Heart Never Lies

by goldenmoon



Category: Les Trois Mousquetaires | The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas, The Musketeers (2014), d'Artagnan Romances (Three Musketeers Series) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friendship, Gen, Hurt!d'Artagnan, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Whump!d'Artagnan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2018-11-23 19:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11409099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenmoon/pseuds/goldenmoon
Summary: It was all working out for d'Artagnan. He finally felt like he deserved to be a part of the renowned 'Inseparables' and actually had a successful relationship. It was perfect.That's until an old friend of the Musketeers returns wanting his space back in the team which d'Artagnan now filled. And he will do anything to get it back.





	1. Chapter 1

Silence. Nobody dared to breathe as they crept up to the targeted building in one fluid motion.  
d’Artagnan took his position on the roof of the nearby building as he observed the other musketeers find their position. The plan had only been created hours earlier after a tip-off about the whereabouts of one of their most wanted criminals however the movements and everyone working like clockwork made it appear like it had been rehearsed for months.

“d’Artagnan, is the target in sight?” Athos’ voice crackled through the earpiece.

“Not yet” He murmured, studying the road which lead up to the abandoned warehouse. “Hoping they come soon though, it’s bloody freezing up here”. 

“Tell me about it” Aramis sniggered as he made eye-contact with d’Artagnan, situated on the opposite roof.

“Focus. Our source was very specific that they would come at 3:30 pm. They will be here any minute now” Athos returned, looking up at d'Artagnan. Even from so far down, he knew that he was currently getting a disapproving stare.

“Wait. There’s a white van coming up the road, I think it’s him” d’Artagnan said, watching as everyone stood slightly straighter with their hands clutching their guns tighter in anticipation. 

“Affirmative. Number plate matches the van seen at the robbery last week” Porthos mumbled as the van slowly came into view. 

“Everyone keep to their positions. No-one do anything until I give the order to” Athos demanded, understanding that even the most experienced musketeer can get impatient and may reveal their cover before it was necessary.

The rattling van came to a stop directly outside the warehouse and two men climbed out. Even though he was slightly hidden with a beard and a hat, every musketeer knew it was the target. The man who had been stuck on their most wanted board in their office for weeks. And now it was time to get rid of him.

“3...2...1. Now!” Athos ordered as their target, Vadim, and his accomplice opened the door to the warehouse. 30 laser beams were now pointed at both of their chests, ready to shoot if they refused to co-operate.

“Sir, you are surrounded. Surrender now, there is no way out” Athos said, slightly smugly, as he walked out from out of the shadows into sight.

“Oh musketeers...you tried so hard. But did you really think that I was going to come out of hiding with nobody but this oaf as my protection?” Vadim laughed, pointing at his friend.

“What do-” Porthos started before being interrupted by Aramis.

“Guys, three more vans are on their way, we are under attack. I repeat three more vans.” 

“d’Artagnan, keep your eyes on Vadim. You have the clearest view of him. Don’t let him get away” Athos whispered into the earpiece.

“On it” d’Artagnan mumbled back, trying to control his breathing. This wasn’t his first mission as he had joined the musketeers on at least ten others. However, this was the first one which hadn’t went to plan and his extensive training hadn’t covered this. He was totally and utterly panicking.

In his haze, d’Artagnan spotted movement at the side entrance of the warehouse which had since been abandoned by the musketeers after the new arrivals. And there was Vadim, sneaking out of sight and towards one of the stationary vans to get away. d’Artagnan glanced over to Aramis to silently ask what to do but found his teammate was focused on trying to get a clear shot of Vadim’s partner. 

Without thinking, d’Artagnan jumped onto the lower roof which was only a few metres down. However, the next jump would have to be much bigger as he didn’t have time to climb back down the stairs inside the building. Vadim was getting away and the only way he could catch him in time was to jump. d’Artagnan took a deep breath and realised that if he didn’t do this, he would let Athos down and there was no way he was doing that.

Landing on the grass with a thud, d’Artagnan let out a slight laugh as he realised he was okay. That was until he stood up and experienced the worst pain he had ever felt, shooting up his left ankle. Aramis was definitely going to kill him for running on a sprained ankle but he had no choice, he had to do this.

Biting back a moan of agony, d’Artagnan ran as quick a he could after Vadim, quickly reducing the distance between them as his target hadn’t realised that he’d been spotted.  
With one final push, the musketeer was able to grab onto Vadim and tackle him to the ground, putting his whole weight on the criminal as he grabbed a zip-tie from his pocket and fasted both Vadim’s wrists and ankles together.

“Athos, I have Vadim secured” d’Artagnan revealed, grinning as Vadim tried to move out from under d'Artagnan helplessly. 

It was a few minutes of silence before Athos’ finally replied, “Well done d’Art, Porthos is on his way”

D'Artagnan heard Porthos’ rumbling laugh as he jogged over, “We trained you well then, pretty sure I taught you how to tackle someone down like that”.

“Learned from the very best” d’Artagnan shrugged, allowing Porthos to secure Vadim with handcuffs. “What’s happening inside?”

“Oh they surrendered in minutes. Don’t think they realised what they were getting themselves into, isn’t that right?” Porthos smirked, watching as Vadim continued to try and get out of Porthos’ grasp. “Come on, let’s get this one secured into the van”.

d’Artagnan nodded, slowly getting up from the floor. Even though he tried his best to hide his injury, Porthos could immediately see the pain on his face. 

“What have you done now?”

“Well I had to jump from the roof to get to Vadim in time, I had no choice Porthos” 

Porthos shook his head before speaking into his earpiece. “Aramis, we need you over here. The whelp has gone and got himself injured for doing something incredibly stupid”

“On my way” Aramis replied instantly and within minutes, d’Artagnan saw him running towards them. 

“So….I think I might have sprained my ankle or something? And don’t start with the disapproving looks, I’m sure I’ll have enough of that from Athos” d’Artagnan explained.

“Don’t worry my friend, talking from experience, those looks eventually lose their power once you’ve had enough of them” Aramis laughed, carefully examining the bruised ankle. “But even though I think it’s just a sprain, we should get you checked out at the hospital just in case”

“I don’t think that’s really necessary-”

“Oh it really is” d’Artagnan’s head shot up to see his mentor standing over them, staring at d'Artagnan with high scrutiny. Crouching down, Athos quickly glanced around to check that there was nobody watching them before grabbing d’Artagnan’s hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.  
They had experienced a bit of a whirlwind romance after a drunken kiss at the legendary musketeers christmas party. Even though they had tried to deny their feelings, especially Athos after his past experience with love, they couldn’t. So they had been together for the past 4 months and even though it was going strong, neither of them were ready to tell anyone apart from Aramis and Porthos. 

“Come on, let’s get you checked out” Athos murmured, slowly untangling his fingers from d’Artagnan’s. 

With the help of both Aramis and Athos, d’Artagnan was lead over to their car. Although the pain was soon masked as he felt immensely proud of himself, watching Vadim and his gang get forced into the police vans. And for the first time, he felt like he deserved to be there and he wasn’t just the young boy who had somehow managed to work up the ranks and get a spot with the renowned ‘Inseparables’. He was actually a part of their team. 

 

An hour later, d’Artagnan was still grinning to himself as he lay on the hospital bed, allowing the nurse to bandage up his ankle. It may have been a mixture of the adrenaline still pumping through his blood and the pain relief which had also been administered but d’Artagnan still felt elated. Between all the musketeers on that mission, he had been the one to catch the criminal.  
His thoughts however were quickly interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Are we able to see him?” Athos asked, with Aramis and Porthos in tow. 

With a disapproving look at their dirty clothes, the nurse finally nodded and left to give the team some privacy.

“So even though we are proud of you for being the ‘hero’, you are to spend some time off to recuperate” Athos drawled, putting his hand up as d’Artagnan opened his mouth to protest. “And that’s an order, d’Art”.

“Fine. How long?”

“A week” Aramis replied absently as he was studying the bandages, murmuring under his breath about how he wouldn’t have done it that way before getting a nudge off Porthos to stop.

“But...I was thinking that you could maybe stay at mine?” Athos asked quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed before adding quickly “Just to keep you out of trouble and make sure you’re resting that ankle obviously”

d’Artagnan’s eyes lit up and he grinned as he nodded his head. With a quick glance at Aramis and Porthos, he saw that they were occupied looking at their emails, so he gave Athos a brief kiss. Even though Aramis and Porthos knew about them, Athos wasn’t too comfortable with the whole PDA aspect which d’Artagnan respected.

“The doctor outside said that we could take you home when you’re ready” Athos murmured, still staring into his boyfriend’s eyes.

“Then take me home” d’Artagnan replied quietly, smiling softly.

“Okay so if you guys are going to be that loved up then we can just leave you to it” Aramis interrupted, pretending to be disgusted even though he was still looking at them with a fond look he reserved just for the three guys in the room.

“Sorry, no please help me get out of here. Even though I don’t want to go to the place where I’ll be stuck for the next week, I’d rather be there than here” d’Artagnan sighed, as slowly moved himself of the edge of the bed and got up with Athos helping him. He knew he would hate every minute of his time-off but if Athos wanted him to have it then he would. 

 

By the end of the third day at home, d’Artagnan was so bored that he didn’t care what Athos wanted. Even though his boyfriend had a very nice apartment, complete with views of the whole of London and the biggest TV with every movie you could imagine on, he was still bored out of his mind. 

As he was in the middle of watching yet another Friends episode, Athos came back from work along with their favourite Thai take-away and a bottle of red wine. 

“Hey” Athos greeted, giving d’Artagnan a quick kiss before he quickly grabbed some plates and two wine glasses and settling down next to d’Artagnan. “How have you been?”

“Currently debating what would be more fun, throwing myself out of the window to see how long it would take to reach the ground or see how many painkillers it takes before I go delirious, well more than I already am” d’Artagnan sighed, grabbing his wine and taking a large mouthful of it.

“Wait, should you be drinking that while on painkillers?” Athos frowned, reaching to move the wine away.

d’Artagnan shrugged “I’ll text Aramis later but currently I don’t care. How was work anyway? Anything exciting happening?”

“Not really, just Aramis up to his usual flirting with the new secretary. Oh and Porthos fought nearly every musketeer in today and managed to win” Athos replied “But don’t worry you haven’t missed much”

“Still wish I was there though” He moaned while picking through his noodles to get all the prawns out as Athos always forgot that he didn't’ like them. 

“About that…if you’re really that bored then maybe you could come in tomorrow? Just to do some paperwork and stuff, nothing exciting” 

“Yes! Oh my god Athos thank you!” d’Artagnan grinned, sitting up to kiss Athos on the cheek. “I will do all the paperwork you want as long as I don’t have to watch any more daytime TV!”

 

d’Artagnan’s ankle was still sore as he hobbled into the office the next morning, greeting Constance and all the musketeers he passed with a large smile. 

“So as a thank you for letting me come in early, I bought you all coffee” d’Artagnan announced as he walked into the office that him, Athos, Porthos and Aramis shared. However, there was an extra person in the office than what he was expecting.

Sat on top of his desk with his feet on d’Artagnan’s chair was a man which he had never seen before, laughing at something Aramis had just said.

“Ah d’Artagnan! Welcome back and thanks for the coffee” Porthos exclaimed, grabbing one and taking a large gulp of it before shuddering and passing it to Aramis. “Far too sweet, I don’t know why you like that caramel stuff in it”

Aramis laughed as he passed the other coffee onto Athos and before d’Artagnan could protest, the stranger stood up and grabbed the remaining one, drinking most of it before putting it back on the tray.

“Oh sorry, was that yours? My mistake” He said with a menacing smile on his face, waiting for d’Artagnan’s reaction.

“And you are….?” d’Artagnan replied with a frown.

“This is Rochefort, one of the best musketeers we ever had. He was actually a part of the inseperables before he decided to leave us” Aramis grinned, wrapping an arm around Rochefort’s shoulders. “But now he’s back! He surprised us all by coming in a couple of days ago”  
d’Artagnan stared at Rochefort before he plastered on a fake smile and held his hand out to shake.

“Well, it will be a pleasure getting to know you” He said, putting all the skills he learnt in high school drama to pretend to be nice.

As Rochefort strongly gripped d’Artagnan’s hand and shook it, he replied equally as sweet. “Oh the pleasure's all mine”


	2. Chapter 2

“Athos can I talk with you for a minute?” D’artagnan finally said after a minute of tense silence. Making eye contact with his boyfriend, he added “Privately. In your office.”

Athos frowned slightly but nodded, following D’artagnan out of their shared office and into Athos’ adjoined one, ignoring the catcalls which Aramis was making after them.   
Treville had given Athos his own office after making him deputy lead however Athos could never bring himself to move out of the shared one where he had spent years working in with the rest of the team. Even though his private one was much more spacious and didn’t stink of the sandwiches that Porthos insisted on bringing in everyday, sentiment meant that the office was hardly used.

“So...what’s this about?” Athos asked, sitting on the edge of the desk while he watched D’artagnan pace up and down in-front of him.

Letting out a dry laugh, D’artagnan finally stopped in front of Athos with his hands on his hips and the most intense stare he could muster.

“What’s this about you say? This is about me wondering why you have never mentioned your old best friend before. You and the others have never mentioned him when I asked you about old missions!” D’artagnan exclaimed.

“Okay but-”

“However you know what the worst thing is? The fact that I asked you last night about whether anything exciting was happening here and the only thing you told me about was Aramis’ new escapades with the secretary without even a warning about our new visitor”

“Will you let me explain please?” Athos finally said as he stood up so he was only inches away from his agitated boyfriend who was refusing to make eye contact with him. “Look at me D’artagnan.”

When the large brown eyes finally met his, he began to explain. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about him. The fact that he hasn’t came up in the past is just chance, in most of the missions you’ve asked about, he was already gone or he hadn’t came yet”

“Okay but why didn’t you tell me last night about him?”

“I didn’t want you to blow it out of proportion, more than you have now. I was already worried about you and whether you were okay to come back to work so if I told you that an old team member had came back, you would have gotten even more agitated than you are now” 

“Great...so my boyfriend doesn’t trust me enough to tell me about things, because I’m too young and hot-headed” D’artagnan mumbled. “I suppose I’ll just go and do my paperwork then, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of you reminiscing with your experienced team member” 

Before D’artagnan could leave the office, Athos grabbed his wrist, preventing him from leaving.

“Don’t you dare put words into my mouth D’art, I never meant that in the slightest and if you want to go and have a sulk that’s fine but you can’t do that forever. Just....come for lunch with us all, once you get to know him then I think you’ll really like him”

“Whatever, I’ll see you later Athos” D’artagnan sighed, pulling his wrist away from Athos’ grip as he stormed out of the office. He kept his eyes trained on the hallway in front of him as he couldn’t bare to see Athos’ expression or even worse, the smug look on Rochefort’s face as he had been watching the whole dispute through the office window.

 

“I know the others call you pup but wow do you look like a kicked puppy” Constance laughed as d’Artagnan came into her office and slumped down into the chair on the opposite side of her desk. 

Putting his head into his hands, he quickly wiped away the angry tears which had somehow escaped even though he had tried to talk himself out of crying throughout his walk up to Constance’s office.

“I think I’ve been replaced” He mumbled into his hands.

“Okay I can’t look at you like that for any longer. Come here you idiot” Constance said, getting up and offering her arms out for a hug. 

Usually, D’artagnan would refuse after claiming that he was okay and he didn’t need comfort for anything. But today he couldn’t resist so he immediately stood up and fell into Constance’s embrace. 

“You smell nice today…” D’artagnan murmured into Constance’s shoulder as he tried not to get any stains on her lovely white blouse.

“Now I really know that you’re upset, you’re getting all soppy” Constance smiled sympathetically as she sat D’artagnan back down and moved her chair round so it was next to his. “What’s happened?”

D’artagnan sighed as he picked at his nails, something he always did when he was stressed or nervous. Athos hated to see him do it so he had tried to stop but the overwhelming need to do it won.  
“I came in today to see this guy sitting at my desk, making all the others laugh over something he did in Spain. Apparently this Rochefort guy used to be part of the team before he left a few years ago” D’artagnan spat, trying to ignore the pitying looks which Constance was giving him. “And I know I look totally childish right now but...I finally felt like I was apart of their team, you know? But now I don’t think there’s room for me”

“I know exactly how you feel” 

D’artagnan’s head shot up, frowning at Constance. “What? How?”

“I was worried that the dynamic was going to change when Anne hired Marguerite to work alongside me as her assistants. Me and Anne were so close and I couldn’t understand why she wanted someone else” Constance explained. “I honestly hated Marguerite when she first came because I just saw her as someone trying to get in the way of my friendship with Anne”

“But you’re best friends with her now”

“Exactly” Constance laughed, as she took D’artagnan’s hands into her own. “I know you’re scared that you’re going to get pushed out but do you really think so little of Athos, Porthos and Aramis that they would let that happen? And trust me when I say that I’ve never seen Athos so happy since you’ve come, that’s how strong your friendship is.”

D’artagnan blushed slightly as he realised that Constance only knew about the friendship side of their relationship but he also understood something even more important. He still felt betrayed that the others, especially Athos, hadn’t told him about Rochefort but he also knew that if he was going to keep his place within the inseparables, he would have to stop acting childish. 

He would have to give Rochefort a chance. 

“Constance, you are a star” D’artagnan smiled, giving Constance a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for getting through to me. Oh and sorry about the tear stains on your blouse” 

“Don’t worry about it, now go and make amends with the boys” Constance said and just as D’artagnan was about to leave she called after him. “Oh and D’artagnan? Don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you’re not good enough again, you are so special, believe me”

D’artagnan grinned, blowing Constance one last kiss before he walked as quick as he could with his sore ankle back to the lift. He had to sort this out before Rochefort could worm his way back into the group for good.

As he went back into the office, he was surprised to see that the man who had caused all the trouble was absent.

“Where’s Rochefort?” He asked, grabbing the attention of the others. He noticed that Athos gave him a quick glance before looking back at his laptop screen, making D’artagnan’s heart break slightly.

“Oh he went to talk to Treville about something” Porthos shrugged as he stood up and wrapped an arm around D’artagnan, giving his hair a quick ruffle. “Are you going to stop sulking now?”

Hitting Porthos’ large hands away from his styled hair, D’artagnan shrugged. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I just went to go and help Constance with her paperwork, no sulking involved”

“Okay we believe you” Aramis smirked, letting D’artagnan know that none of them believed his lie in the slightest. “Look D’art, we’re sorry that we never told you about Rochefort before but the guy is amazing, you’re gonna love him”

“Yeah, I’ll give him a chance, I thought we could actually go out for lunch? At our usual pub?” D’artagnan said, trying to make eye contact with Athos. 

“Fine with me, I’ve been craving their pies for weeks now” Porthos grinned before him and Aramis began to bicker about whether beer or wine would go best with their meal. 

While the others were distracted, D’artagnan took the opportunity to go over to Athos, sitting on the arm of his chair.

“Athos I am so sorry, I behaved like a spoilt kid before and you’re right, I have completely blown this out of proportion. Please...forgive me?” 

“Only if you buy me a nice glass of wine over lunch” Athos replied, still as serious as ever.

D’artagnan laughed as he wrapped his arms around Athos to give him a tight hug. “I’ll buy you the most expensive one they have. But seriously, we’re okay?”

Athos gave him a small smile in return as he grabbed D’artagnan’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “We’re okay.”

“Ah, the wanderer has returned. Do you have a habit of storming out of offices in such a dramatic fashion?” Rochefort smirked as he strolled back into the office and once again, sat down on D’artagnan’s chair, putting his feet up onto the desk.

“Actually, I was just helping out a colleague so I have no idea where you’ve gotten that idea from” D’artagnan snapped before taking a deep breath, remembering that he was supposed to be playing nice. “We were actually about to go for lunch, would you like to join us? We’re going to our usual pub round the corner”

“Wait, you mean The White Swan? I can’t believe you guys still go there!” Rochefort laughed, smiling even wider at the surprised look on D’artagnan’s face.

D’artagnan had always thought that they had discovered the small pub together. They had just came back from D’artagnan’s first mission, which had been a late-night one, so the only place open was The White Swan in the small side-street round the corner from the office. There, they had practically inhaled the food and wine while congratulating D’artagnan on the first of many successful missions. Since that night, the pub had became a regular place for lunches and nights out meaning many happy memories had also been created there.

“What do you mean? I thought we discovered that place together?” D’artagnan frowned, looking at the others who were suddenly looking away with a guilty expression on their faces.

“We never specifically said it was our first time there too...we may have been there a few times before that” Aramis replied slowly, looking down at the floor to avoid seeing D’artagnan’s expression.

Even though D’artagnan immediately felt the same feeling of betrayal and his anger flare back up, he couldn’t show it. Not with Rochefort staring at him with a satisfied look on his face. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Lets just go for lunch” D’artagnan shrugged, putting his biggest fake smile on and directing it towards Rochefort. 

There was no way he was going to let Rochefort win this.

 

“So Rochefort, why did you decide to abandon the musketeers?” D’artagnan asked once they had ordered their food.

“Well, Treville selected me to go on an undercover mission in Spain for 6 months. It’ll probably be a while before you have the skill set needed for something like that but I was honoured to be asked” Rochefort replied, taking a sip of his wine.

“Yeah we were gutted when this one left, he was an incredible musketeer” Porthos said, clapping Rochefort on the shoulder.

“I couldn’t have done it without you guys though. You trained me up until I was ready to go off on my own” Rochefort told them before looked back at D’artagnan “I guess you are they’re new protégé? It’s like a production line for you guys, grab someone of the streets and train them to be a musketeer then send them off and get the next one.”

 

“Actually, D’artagnan has great potential. He may be one of the best we’ve seen” Athos argued back, squeezing D’artagnan’s hand under the table which D’artagnan guessed was to try and keep him calm. 

“Wow, getting praise from Athos, you must be someone special” Rochefort said, his eyes searching them both before his eyes settled on the fact that both their hands were settled under the table where they were entwined.

Noticing that they were under scrutiny, both of them quickly untangled their fingers. While Athos didn’t Rochefort to know because of his fear of everyone in the musketeers finding out, D’artagnan knew that Rochefort would definitely use it to his advantage through blackmail or something equally as cruel.

“I actually have an announcement to make as well” Rochefort finally said, taking his eyes away from the couple. “Treville called me into his office today to offer me a full time post. Looks like I’m back in the musketeers!”

D’artagnan’s jaw dropped involuntarily and has the others cheered and congratulated Rochefort, D’artagnan could only focus on how surreal this suddenly was.

He thought he would have to suffer like this for a month at the most. 

But he was going to be there permanently.

Permanent. 

“I...I’ll go and get some drinks to celebrate” D’artagnan managed to get out, as he stumbled out of the booth and towards the bar. 

Out of sight from the others, D’artagnan collapsed onto the bar stool and dug the heel of his hands into his eyes as he tried to control his breathing. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him.

“You okay, my lovely?” 

Trying to blink away the blurriness which had occurred from pressing too hard into his eyes, D’artagnan saw the concerned look of the regular bar maid, Marie. 

“Yeah, I-I’m fine. Can I get another round of drinks for the table please?”

“No bother. I see that Rochefort has came back” Marie said, looking over to the table.

“You know him? How?”

“Oh I remember when he was here, in the musketeers. Such a lovely lad” 

“Yeah, so everyone keeps telling me” D’artagnan sighed, looking over at his friends. He could hear Rochefort telling the others about his adventures in Spain and how it reminded him of the things they used to get up to as a foursome. 

D’artagnan no longer had all the fight in him which he had when he had walked into the pub so he felt like he didn’t even want to go back. Just as he was considering bolting out of the door and never looking back, he felt a hand rest on the small of his back.

“You need a hand?” Athos asked quietly.

“No, I’m okay” D’artagnan murmured, trying to lift up the tray however he soon realised how much his hands were shaking when the drinks began to tip out of the glasses.

“D’artagnan you’re a mess” Athos sighed, ignoring the sarcastic thanks which came in return from his boyfriend. “I know this is a shock, I didn’t expect him to be staying either but you’re taking this way too hard”

“I know, I should give him a chance as he’s such a good person and all that, you don’t need to keep telling me Athos. Just give me a chance okay?”

“Fine, just give me that bloody tray, there’s going to be none left in a minute” Athos smiled softly, taking the tray of drinks off D’artagnan and taking them back to the table with D’artagnan trailing behind him.

“Ah Athos you’re back. I was thinking about creating a training plan to get me back to the best standard. I’ve been in Spain far too long and I think we all know how hard to resist that Spanish food is. I mean, remember the trip in 2008, we could hardly move after just a week there because we had ate too much”

D’artagnan rolled his eyes “What so there’s no such thing as a gym over in Spain?”

Ignoring the kick under the table from Aramis opposite him, D’artagnan didn’t back down or apologise.

Rochefort simply laughed in return. “Ah my young D’artagnan, clearly you don’t know the difference between being fit and being at musketeers standard.”

“Oh I’ll be happy to show you my fighting skills in the training room tomorrow, Porthos has taught me a lot of tricks”

“Okay, let’s just end that there. What were you saying about a training plan Rochefort?” Porthos interrupted, knowing that he couldn’t let it go on for any longer unless they wanted to be kicked out of their favourite pub for fighting.

“Yes, I was thinking we could just follow our old plan? Combat with Porthos on Tuesdays, target practice with Aramis on Wednesdays and my favourite, endurance training with Athos on Thursdays” Rochefort said, giving a quick wink towards Athos at the end.

Before he had seen the wink, D’artagnan had managed to keep himself calm but that was the final trigger before he snapped.

“Okay but that’s not happening. You have obviously looked at my training plan and decided to copy it. That is the exact days I do them activities and there is no way that I’m changing that. You’re just going to have to look elsewhere for training”

“Woah okay mate, calm down” Rochefort held his hands up in surrender. “It appears our lovely boys can’t be bothered to change their plans when they get newbies because that’s my old one. And anyway, don’t you have a sore ankle or something? I don’t think you should be training anyway, right Aramis?”

Aramis sheepishly looked at D’artagnan before nodding. “I think he’s right D’artagnan, just for the next few weeks you should take it easy. But we can make a new plan as soon as you’re up to it”

D’artagnan nodded, gulping down the rest of his drink before standing up and putting his coat on.

“D’art, where are you going?” Athos asked, frowning up at him.

“It’s all become clear to me now. As soon as the old mate is back, the new one gets kicked out. Well I’ll leave you all to it” D’artagnan spat, ignoring the calls from Athos to come back. 

He wasn’t quite sure where he was heading until he found himself outside of Treville’s office, his hand up ready to knock. Was he sure he wanted to do this? To ask to transfer over to another team after all the hard work getting to the top? 

“D’artagnan? Do you want something?” Treville asked, opening the door after he had noticed his youngest musketeer loitering outside.

“I...it’s nothing. I had a problem but I just realised I can fix it, sorry for wasting your time sir” D’artagnan quickly replied before going back to their office, ignoring the puzzled look which Treville was sending after him.

As he collapsed onto his desk chair, D’artagnan picked up the photograph stuck on the side of his computer screen as he kept meaning to get a photo frame but never got round to it. It was a photo of the four of them, grinning at the camera with their arms wrapped round each other. It was after D’artagnan’s first successful mission and even though they were so tired and hungry, they were still smiling.

It made D’artagnan realise that he wasn’t prepared to lose them. Not Aramis. Not Porthos. Especially not Athos.

He would have to fight. 

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a filler chapter as I just wanted to set the scene for what's coming up in the next few chapters. Things are going to get more tense between Rochefort and D'artagnan and there may be some splinters between the foursome...
> 
> Please leave feedback and kudos! I didn't expect to get the reaction I did from the first chapter so thank you so much!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah how did I manage to leave this so long?! My life just decided to totally get in the way but I promise there won't be gap like that anymore! 
> 
> I tried to make this chapter longer than the others to make up for it so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

A week or so after the accident with his ankle, d'Artagnan had managed to persuade Treville that he was fit enough to come back completely. And he had came back with a new purpose. 

He was determined to get closer to Rochefort without arousing any suspicion. Not only did it ensure that he could take Rochefort down from the inside but it would also didn’t want to appear any more childish to the rest of the team than he had already displayed since the new visitor had joined them.

“Hey Porthos, I’m ready to take you down today” d'Artagnan called as he strolled into the basement where they practiced all their combat skills and helped to make sure that their fitness was at the absolute peak. 

“I’ll be there in a second whelp, let me finish with Rochefort first” Porthos gasped back from where he was wrapping his arm around Rochefort’s neck to try and drag him down to the ground. If a stranger walked in and observed the fight they would think that Porthos was hurting his partner however the boys all knew that Porthos wouldn’t even hurt a fly when they were training...on the field though it was another story.

d'Artagnan clenched his jaw to stop himself from protesting that he always trained at this time every day, like clockwork, however he quickly turned his grimace into a forced smile.

“No worries, take your time. I’ll just wait over here until you’re done” d'Artagnan replied and he couldn’t stop himself from adding a quick snarky comment, “It’ll be a warm up for you anyway, a nice easy match before you fight me” 

From his position on the floor, Rochefort looked over and made eye contact with d'Artagnan, simply staring at him for a few long seconds before finally giving up and allowing Porthos to defeat him.

“Good fight, I’ve missed that a lot” Rochefort said breathlessly as he took Porthos’ hand to pull himself up. “You can let the kid fight now, I don’t want to mess up with his little routine” 

d'Artagnan looked up with surprise from where he was stretching in the corner. He couldn’t believe that Rochefort was being so considerate, especially compared to how he had treated d'Artagnan when he had first arrived.

“Erm...thanks” d'Artagnan slowly replied, still wary of the man standing in front of him. “You ready for this Porthos?”

Porthos chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re being very confident today, bring it on!”

Just as d'Artagnan was about to make the first move on his large opponent, a voice from the back of the room sounded, interrupting the concentration between Porthos and d'Artagnan on each other's movements.

“Actually, I might stay and observe. I’ve learnt a lot of sly tricks while I was undercover, maybe I can teach you a few d'Artagnan so you can finally take this giant down” Rochefort grinned.

Frowning at the proposal, d'Artagnan hesitantly nodded as he made looked at Porthos for answers who simply shrugged back. 

“Right, let’s do this” Porthos announced as he reached out to grab d'Artagnan’s arm in order to pull him down on the floor. His opposition quickly hopped out of the way, using his smaller frame to his advantage as he could move around the floor a lot quicker than Porthos.

“Kick the back of his leg d’Art, just behind his knee” Rochefort called out as d'Artagnan had managed to jump behind Porthos. Without thinking, d'Artagnan did as he was instructed, watching with amazement as Porthos’ legs involuntarily buckled.   
Using that to his advantage, d'Artagnan quickly pushed Porthos to the floor, his partner landing on his stomach and before he could get up, d'Artagnan quickly put his foot on Porthos’ back, indicating that the fight was over and he was victorious for one of the first times.

Clapping loudly, Rochefort smiled as he came over and patted d'Artagnan on the back. 

“I knew that would work! Good job” 

d'Artagnan finally allowed himself to smile back, for real this time, as he basked in the feeling of finally winning. 

“Yeah well done D’art, I’m proud that the message of using dirty tricks to win has finally reached your head. You now know my secrets” Porthos chuckled as he fist bumped d'Artagnan before heading towards the showers to cool off. 

“Thank you for that, I’ve never known anyone do that trick before and if it can take down Porthos then it’s going to be so effective against normal people” d'Artagnan enthused, grinning as Porthos shouted protests at not being classed as ‘normal’.

“No problem, you fought well” Rochefort replied “In fact, I can teach you a few other tricks if you’d like, do you fancy going out to lunch?”

d'Artagnan hesitated, he wasn’t entirely sure if saying yes would be part of his plan to simply get closer to Rochefort to bring him down or because he was finally starting to realise that he had overreacted over a pretty good guy.

Maybe the outcome of the lunch would help him to make a final judgement once and for all.

“Sure, why not? It might be good to get to know each other a bit better” 

 

After a quick shower and change, d'Artagnan went up to the shared office a lot more optimistic than he had done that morning. Spotting Athos in his adjoined separate office, d'Artagnan opened the door and strolled in.

Athos’ head shot up from where he was standing over the printer, ready to lecture people over the importance of knocking before barging into someone’s office before he realised it was d'Artagnan. 

“Oh it’s you, how was training?” Athos asked, a soft smile on his face which always seemed to appear when d'Artagnan was in the room.

“Actually...it was okay. Rochefort was surprisingly helpful” d'Artagnan admitted “And I can tell from the look on your face that you’re about to tell me you told me so” 

“I would never be so childish but I am enjoying the feeling of being right about something which you had protested against so much” Athos drawled before turning back to the printer.

“What are you doing in here anyway? I thought you hated working in here?”

 

“I do but Aramis has jammed up the printer in there with god knows what” Athos said, gesturing to where Aramis was trying to remove the stuck paper with a fork, causing d'Artagnan to laugh out loud at the stupidness. “But then I came in here and this isn’t even working at all”

Standing up, d'Artagnan gently pushed his boyfriend out the way and pressed a button, making the printer suddenly come to life. 

“You old men are amazing out on the field but when it comes to technology? Let the youngster sort it out for you.” d'Artagnan grinned, pecking Athos’ cheek before quickly escaping the office and shutting the door to prevent the rubber which Athos had thrown from hitting his head. 

“Hey ‘Mis, can you let Athos know that I’m going out for lunch? I don’t want to risk anything else being thrown at me” d'Artagnan said as he pulled his coat on. 

“Yeah sure, who with? You got a bit on the side as well as Athos?” Aramis replied, still trying to pull out mangled piece of paper from the printer.

“No, I’m actually going with Rochefort, to kind of get to know each other a bit better” d'Artagnan told him, rolling his eyes as Aramis’ head shot up in surprise.

“Really? You aren’t just saying this and you’re actually going to go and murder him are you? Because I don’t think we can get you out of that one mate” 

“Don’t be stupid, I suppose there might be a chance that I overreacted a bit when he came. Anyway I’ll see how this lunch goes” d'Artagnan said, walking towards the door and just as he was about to leave, he quickly added, “Oh and talking of people getting killed, please just call the IT technicians in before you get electrocuted”

 

“Hey, d'Artagnan! Over here!” Rochefort called as he spotted d'Artagnan walking into The White Swan. “I got you a beer, that’s what you were drinking the other night wasn’t it?”

“Oh yeah, thanks” d'Artagnan said as he sipped the beer which was in front of him. “So I just want to apologise to you. I think I overreacted when you first came and I completely misjudged you. And I didn’t trust the other lads when they told me I was wrong which I now realise was stupid because I trust them with my life so why didn’t I believe them-”

“Stop! It’s fine” Rochefort interrupted. “Honestly I think I was a bit wary of you when I first came as well. A fresh new recruit to replace me not long after I had gone, it was a bit unsettling. So I’m sorry too but why don’t we make a fresh start?”

d'Artagnan was shocked into silence. He honestly didn’t expect to get an apology in return and Rochefort honestly seemed sincere about it. Maybe it was time for a fresh start after all.

“I would like that. I would also love for you to tell me all those tricks you were going to teach me, I can’t wait to see Porthos’ reaction when I use them all on him”. 

 

An hour flew by before either of them knew it and by the end of it, d'Artagnan knew so many dirty tricks that he was practically bursting to go and try them on the rest of his team. A ding sounding from both of their phones interrupted them, making them aware that they were needed back at the office.

“It’s Athos, we have new developments on the Bonnaire case. We might have enough information to catch him tonight” d'Artagnan said, reading the text. “We should go back”

“Wait! d'Artagnan, before we go I want to tell you something. Please sit back down for a minute” 

Frowning, d'Artagnan detected the urgency in his voice therefore slowly sank back into his chair. 

“I have loved sharing my knowledge with you and I honestly think you have a lot of raw talent which will get you far and I want to give you a little push which will fast-track that a bit more...I have information on Bonnaire. Information that the musketeers don’t know”

“What information? If you know something then we should get back and tell Treville it now!”

“No! I’m going to tell you it so you can get all the glory of catching that maniac single-handedly. Bonnaire has a wife, Maria, who has a house on the outskirts of Paris. Bonnaire has been known to hide out there when he’s close to being caught so I am sure he’ll be there tonight. Here, I’ll give you the address”

“But...how do you know this? How can I trust this information?”

 

“When I was undercover...I had to mix with a lot of dodgy people. I found out information on pretty much the whole criminal network in Paris. That case you hurt your ankle on, Vadim right? I knew his plan, that he was going to have backup with him. I tried to get in touch with Treville to warn him but I couldn’t, hence why I decided to come back and warn him in person. I obviously didn’t get here in time though”.

d'Artagnan sat back in his chair, trying to absorb all the new information. It was mad how in the space of one hour, he had managed to do complete 180 in terms of how much he trusted Rochefort. 

An hour ago he wouldn’t have dreamt of trusting the guy in front of him.

But for some reason...now he did.

“Okay, give me the address he’ll be at. I need to go and tell Athos”

 

d'Artagnan sprinted up the stairs, knowing the lift would be far too slow, to the top floor where the briefing room was. There, he saw all the musketeers surrounding the large glass table where Treville and Athos were explaining the plan and arranging where each and every musketeer would be located.

“Wait! I have new information!” d'Artagnan exclaimed as he burst through the doors, causing all heads to turn to him. 

“What’s the meaning of this d'Artagnan? We don’t have much time” Treville asked sternly. d'Artagnan always saw him as a kind, father figure until it came to missions, that when he suddenly became quite afraid of their strict, no-nonsense boss.

“I’ve been looking over past sightings of Bonnaire, old CCTV footage and old witness accounts. In nearly every one, there seems to be a woman nearby...I’ve had information which tells me that it’s his wife. Marie Bonnaire” d'Artagnan explained, recalling the story which Rochefort had told him to say. 

“Marie! Yes I have heard that name too” Aramis suddenly said, causing d'Artagnan’s heart rate to increase slightly, knowing that the information might actually be true.

“So? Why should that matter? We already know where Bonnaire is going to be tonight, it doesn’t matter whether Marie is with him or not” Athos replied, frowning.

“It does. Every single time you have tried to go after Bonnaire, he has managed to get away and we never know where he escapes to. I honestly believe it will be to his wife’s house, on the outskirts of Paris. Here is the address”

“I don’t know...it’s such a risk d'Artagnan” Treville shook his head as he took the scrap of paper out of d'Artagnan’s outstretched hand.

“Maybe we should go for it. He’s right, he’s always too quick for us and manages to get away. We should try a new tactic, going to where his hideout place is. He would never expect it” Athos murmured to his boss as the two of them made eye contact as if they were making a decision telepathically.

Taking a deep breath, Treville slowly nodded. “Fine. Do it. At this point, after four failed attempts of capturing him, I’ll do anything”

“Right. We have an hour then to make a new plan. Porthos, I need you to work out all the possible entrances and exits to the building. Aramis, I need you to find the best places for snipers, see if there’s any high buildings nearby. d'Artagnan, come with me for a second” Athos announced before walking back into the corridor, his boyfriend on his heels.

“What’s up?” 

“D’art...are you sure about this? I mean 100% sure?” Athos asked carefully.

“Please Athos, just trust me. I’ll make you proud with this” d'Artagnan begged, giving Athos’ shoulder a quick squeeze before going back into the room. As he stepped in, he saw Rochefort who gave him a quick nod of approval across the room. d'Artagnan grinned back, hopefully relaying the message of gratitude back to him.

 

It had been two hours.

Two hours of standing around Marie Bonnaire’s house.

Two hours of waiting for their wanted man to arrive. 

Nothing.

“He must have found out. He isn’t coming, is he?” Porthos reluctantly murmured into his earpiece.

“Sadly, I agree. The original plan to bust the old apartment block was at 1pm, if he knew about that then he should definitely be here, at his hide-out by now” Athos sighed. “I’ll ring Treville, ask for permission to stand down”

d'Artagnan swore under his breath, kicking the wall beside the back door where he was stationed, ignoring the disappointed glances he was being given by other musketeers.

“Shit! He’s gone. Bonnaire was at the apartment block which we had originally thought. He’s been spotted on the CCTV cameras at the time we would have been there to catch him” Athos seethed. “Stand down. We’ll debrief back at the office.”

The journey back to the base was the longest half an hour of d'Artagnan’s life. Even though he was in a car with his three closest friends, one of which he was in love with, he felt like a complete outsider. It was silent. Nobody would even make eye contact with each other as they were all wrapped up in thoughts of how close they were to actually capturing the man who had been on the run for years.

Not only was d'Artagnan upset though. He was angry. At one person in particular.

“Well that was a bit of a failure, wasn’t it” Rochefort drawled as all the musketeers solemnly filed into the briefing room where they had been optimistically planning just a few hours ago.

“How dare you. How dare you say that when you were the one who gave me that information! This is your fault!” d'Artagnan yelled, storming over to Rochefort and pushing him against the wall. “I don’t know why I was so stupid to trust you”

Rochefort let out a shocked laugh, holding his hands up in surrender. “I don’t know what you’re talking about D’art. I never gave you any information, especially since i’ve just rejoined the team so I don’t know any information on this case! I honestly thought this childish rivalry between us was finally over. I even offered to help mentor you.”

 

“No! You knew Bonnaire wasn’t going to go to that house! You told me to take the ‘glory’ just so it looked like I ruined the whole case!”

“Okay, that’s enough. I know we’re all disappointed but honestly, there’s no need to blame Rochefort. We all thought he would be at that house and I understand you wanted it to work but just stop throwing blame around” Athos ordered, gently putting his hand on d'Artagnan’s chest and pushing him away from Rochefort.

“How can you not see what he’s done?! Are all of you blind? He’s just messed up that whole operation!” d'Artagnan exclaimed, looking at Aramis and Porthos for any sign of agreement however they both just looked away.

“You need to cool down. Go outside for a bit and don’t come back in until you’re ready to discuss this like an adult” Athos demanded, pointing to the door. 

d'Artagnan gulped, looking around the large group of what he thought were his friends for any sign of support. Nothing. 

“Fine. If that’s what you want” He sighed, slowly making his way outside.

It was raining hard when he got outside which had caused d'Artagnan to dryly laugh at the irony of the weather reflecting his mood. 

“Hey mate, can I have one of those?” He asked as he spotted a colleague pulling out a cigarette as he walked towards the car park. 

“Rough day?” The man laughed as he held the box and a lighter out towards d'Artagnan.

“Yeah, something like that. Cheers” d'Artagnan said as he lit it and leant against the the brick wall where there was a slight bit of shelter. He had managed to quit smoking a few years ago when he was trying to improve his fitness to get to the musketeers standard however whenever he was stressed or upset the temptation always seemed to get too much.

“Tut tut, a musketeer smoking? What would Athos say?”

d'Artagnan clenched his fists as he swivelled on his heel to see Rochefort grinning at him. 

“Get lost Rochefort” He hissed, getting ready to walk away.

“You were so easy, you know that? When I first came I thought it might be difficult to worm my way back into the group but my god d'Artagnan you have made it so easy!” Rochefort called after him. “You were like a little puppy, as soon as I gave you a little treat of teaching you fighting tricks, you couldn’t get enough of me”

“Why are you here? You don’t even know me! Why go to all this trouble?” d'Artagnan demanded as he spun back around towards Rochefort.

“Because it’s fun messing with you. And I want my space in the musketeers back. You know what they’re saying up there? That you might be too young and inexperienced to be on missions with Athos, Aramis and Porthos. That you might be better off doing paperwork with the ladies...what’s her name again? Constance?” 

“I don’t believe you” d'Artagnan shook his head and walked closer to his new nemesis. “And I’m not going to let you take my place, no matter how much you ruin my reputation.”

Rochefort laughed as he patted d'Artagnan’s cheek before turning to go back inside. “We’ll see about that pup, now I better get back to that important meeting with the lads which you’re not invited to. See ya.”

d'Artagnan screamed out as soon as Rochefort had went out of sight, punching the brick wall until he felt blood trickling down his hand. Sinking down onto the wet pavement while clutching his sore hand to his chest, d'Artagnan seethed. How could this be happening to him?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I used to write fanfics a lot a few years ago for other fandoms however due to life getting in the way, I haven't wrote in so long. I've been reading Musketeers fanfics for a while now and I've finally built up the courage to write one so please leave a comment/feedback!
> 
> I will go into more detail about Athos/D'Artagnan and I may eventually have Aramis/Porthos but I just wanted to set the scene and introduce the plot idea first. Please leave kudos!


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